Jan. 3, 2008

Games Notes - University of Texas in PDF Format
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Game Information
▪ - The University of Texas-Pan American women's basketball team will square-off against 16th ranked University of Texas on Friday (Jan. 4) at the Frank Erwin Center with tip-off slated for 7 p.m.

▪ - The Lady Broncs are coming off a 60-40 setback over Oral Roberts University on New Year's Day. This was the first loss at home for the Lady Broncs.

▪ - This will be the third meeting between the Lady Broncs and the Texas Longhorns with Texas leading the all-time series 2-0. UTPA fell 75-44 last season on Dec. 6 in Austin, TX.

▪ - The Longhorns are riding on a nine-game win streak and enter Friday nights game with a undefeated 5-0 home record.

▪ - The nine-game win streak is the first in UT since the 2003-04 season when UT, 30-5 and a NCAA Sweet 16 team, won nine straight from January 17-February 22 during the heart of the Big 12 Conference regular season.

▪ - Faithful of the Lady Broncs basketball can find results for the game shortly after its conclusion by visiting www.utpabroncs.com.

Scoutng the Opponent - University of Texas (11-2)
▪ - The Longhorns are coming off a 81-79 victory over San Diego in the championship game of the Maggie Dixon Surf `N Slam Classic on Friday (Dec. 29) at the Jenny Craig Pavilion.

▪ - The Longhorns captured a 91-81 first round victory over No. 12 DePaul where six players finished in double-figures. Texas handed DePaul its first defeat of the year, as the Blue Demons (10-1) had entered the game as one of four unbeaten Division I teams in the country.

▪ - Texas was led by Carla Cortijo, who was selected to the All-Tournament Team and lifted the Longhorns to their ninth-straight victory after connecting on an 8-foot shot with 3.7 seconds left in the game.

▪ - Cortijo was named Phillips 66 Big 12 Women's Basketball Player of the Week Wednesday by a media voting panel, as she led the No. 16 Longhorns to two big wins over No. 12 Depaul and San Diego.

▪ - Five Longhorns are averaging 9.1 points per game or above including sophomore guard Brittainey Raven who is averaging 17 points and 4.8 rebounds per game while Ashley Lindsey leads the team in rebounding with 7.2 per game.

Leader of the Broncs
▪ - DeAnn Craft is in her fifth season at the helm of the UTPA women's basketball program with a 45-68 record.

▪ - In her first season as head coach, Craft led the Lady Broncs to their highest win total in program history, with 13. That historic season was followed by a 14-win campaign in 2004-05, breaking the win-record set in 2003-04.

▪ - The Lady Broncs made tremendous strides during the 2006-07 season despite finishing with an 11-18 overall record as UTPA had seven players earn post-season United Basketball League and Independent laurels.

▪ - Craft helped guide the Lady Broncs to some tremendous victories during the past season as the Valley's women's basketball program defeated Texas A&M-Corpus Christi, Texas State, Centenary, McNeese State and New Jersey Insitute of Technology.

▪ - The Lady Broncs finished with a 7-5 record on their home court and have finished with a .500 or higher home winning percentage in each of Craft's first four seasons with the program.

▪ - In the last four seasons, Craft has won more games than the previous coaches in the past six seasons.

Gray and Wilson Rank In Top-Five of NCAA Women's Basketball
▪ - Senior LeKeisha Gray is currently ranked fifth among Division I women's basketball programs in three-point field goals per game with 3.1 percent.

▪ - Gray has hit 22 of her 53 three-point attempts this season. The 5'4 guard recorded a career-high 24 points, inlcuding six three-pointers in a 62-56 victory over Tennessee-Martin on Dec. 3.

▪ - Tiona Wilson ranks second in three-point field goal percentage with 56 percent, banking 14 of her 25 attempts from behind the arc.

▪ - Wilson recorded a career-high 22 points and seven three-pointers in a triumph over Huston-Tillotson on Nov. 17.

Floor General Earns MVP Accolades at Battle of the Border
▪ - LeKeisha Gray earned her second piece of hardware of the season after collecting the MVP trophy at the Third Annual Battle at the Border Tournament hosted by UTPA on Dec. 28-29.

▪ - The Lady Broncs captured the tournament title after battling to a 66-62 victory over St. Louis in the championship game.

▪ - In the two-game series, Gray finished with 25 points, eight rebounds and 10 assists for the Lady Broncs.

Trio of Lady Broncs Earn All-Tournament Team Honors
▪ - LeKeisha Gray was selected to the five-man all-tournament team at the Flint Hills Islander Classic on (Dec. 16)where she collected 22 points and nine rebounds in her efforts in two-games.

▪ - Rose Esther Jean has finished with 35 points and 13 rebounds at the Flint Hills Islander Classic on (Dec. 16) en route to earning all-tournament team honors in the two-day tournament.

▪ - Sohpomore Aleeya Grigsby collected her first piece of hardware of the season as she was selected to the five-player all-tournament team as she finished with a combined 21 points and 13 rebounds at the Florida Gulf Coast Classic on Dec. 30.

Senior Leadership Key To Victory
▪ - The Lady Broncs return four seniors to the 2007-08 campaign in LeKeisha Gray, Tamara Vaughn, Cinthia Ramirez and Tiona Wilson.

▪ - Senior Gray emerged for the Lady Broncs last season as the floor general, playing in 29 games and starting in 28 contests. Gray averaged 10.6 points 4.1 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in her first season in a Lady Bronc uniform.

▪ - Vaughn made an immediate impact in her first season with the Lady Broncs as she was selected to both the All-Independent Newcomer Team and All-United Basketball League Newcomer Team. She was the first player in UTPA history to earn Independent Player of the Week honors when she achieved the milestone following a 22-point, four rebounds, three-steal and two assist performance.

▪ - Shooting gurad, Ramirez appeared in 24 games during her junior season where she started in 14 occiasions for the Broncs. Scored a career-high six points on 2-of-2 shooting, including 2-of-2 shooting from behind the three-point line, on the road at Sun Belt Conference-opponent Lafayette.

▪ - Senior Wilson averaged 2.5 points, 0.8 rebounds, 0.4 assists and 0.4 steals per game. Scored a career-high 11 points on the road at Utah Valley State where she finished 4-of-4 from the field, including 3-of-3 from behind the three-point line, to go along with two steals.

UTPA Sports Information